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Sunday, January 10, 2016

Jambojet to fly back to Lamu after runway upgrade

Jambojet has rescinded their decision to suspend its flights to Lamu.This follows an announcement by Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) that the repair work on the runway had been completed and Jambojet is now allowed to use the full runway in Manda Airstrip.Commenting on the new development, Jambojet CEO Willem Hondius said that the refurbished runway will allow Jambojet to carry full capacity thus bringing more passengers to Lamu.“We are glad that the Ministry of Transport in conjunction with the regulator have made it possible for us to fly back to the heritage-rich island starting 15th January 2015.”“Furthermore we are making changes to our schedules to introduce circular flights that will ensure non-stop flights for passengers between Nairobi and Lamu. This enables passengers for both Lamu and Malindi to fly non-stop on the routes. “He added.The move by Jambojet to introduce the circular flights will certainly boost the resurgent tourism sector considering that Lamu is an important attraction forming part of the coastal tourism circuit.In 2015, the Island which is listed among the UNESCO world Heritage sites hosted over 20,000 visitors.Currently, Jambojet flies the Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft which carries 78 passengers on the Lamu route. It launched flights to the coastal archipelago famous as a tourist attraction in March last year and has since seen passenger numbers rise despite the capacity limitations.During the past period the total number of passenger travelling to Lamu went up by 71% compared to the previous year.Jambojet, recorded a 17 percent jump in passenger numbers for the nine months ended December compared to the same period in 2014, buoyed by the introduction of various new routes including Lamu.Source: http://kbctv.co.ke